Maybe planting inferior forms which are not as purple as 'Royal Purple'. If they try that one and still have it fade out then it's the climate and nothing can be done about it.

Except plant a different kind of purple shrub that holds up better. This would be a good time to shop around some local outlets and see if they have anything that is able to stay a good purple in that area.

they turn green in too much shade...

they are a full sun plant...

and they might tend towards green.. if hyper fertilized...

this and most shrubs NEVER NEED FERT ... ever...

otherwise.. get us a pic

ken

Hot and dry weather can be murder on color retention in purple leaves. Like all other green plants shrubs can and often do need fertilizer, depending on the individual circumstances. This is key: it is not that a kind of plant always needs fertilizer or never needs fertilizer, it is that an individual specimen may or may not need it depending on the soil conditions that particular specimen is experiencing. Conifers, shrubs, trees...they all may need to be fertilized and often are, with an improvement in appearance and growth resulting - when it is done successfully.

Also, in my experience the purple color is always most pronounced in the new growth and fades through the summer, even when protected a bit. That's one reason that I like to coppice some of my smoke bushes so that all of that deeply colored foliage from this year is down where I can see it!

Sara

Some purple-leafed shrubs simply turn green in the high heat of summer. Our two Royal Purple Smokebushes do it every year in Kansas, and both are planted in very full sun. In Chicago, where we didn't have heat this intense, they remained purple.

Also, for the last few years we have had a Corylus avellana âÂÂRed Majesticâ (Harry Lauder's Walking Stick), also in very full sun, and Harry was a gorgeous purple until last week, when he decided to go green for July and August.

I asked our Hort Extension Agent about it and he said it just happens with some plants, and the only thing to do is wait for cooler temps.

The hazel goes green here also, and this is a cool area. 'Forest Pansy' does as well, and so on. Some purple cultivars are good, deep lasting purples and others are not.

Inferior seedlings of 'Royal Purple' were on the market here under that cultivar name awhile back. I think I identified the wholesale source and saw that they were in fact listing them as 'Royal Purple' seedlings and not the original, true-to-type clone. The same stock was likely to have been sent to markets in other parts of the country.

This post was edited by bboy on Mon, Jul 15, 13 at 13:43

My unshaded "Velvet Cloak" smokebush does not turn green.

And it smokes beautifully ...

'Royal Purple' is from Holland and 'Velvet Cloak' is from Michigan. The latter is supposed to differ by having "fawn" plumes rather than purple, so this may perhaps produce a question about the identification of the specimen shown here.

This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 14:03

My "Royal Purple" smokebush smokes fawn/tan, and not very much.

The "Velvet Cloak" definitely smokes purple ... which turn to more of a fawn/tan color as we progress through the season.